He also sent to Switzerland
to hire troops, and without difficulty engaged ten thousand men to meet,
on the plains of Milan, the six thousand of their brethren whom Ludovico
had hired, to hew each other to pieces for the miserable pittance of a
few pennies a day. But Louis XII. was as great in diplomacy as in war.
He sent secret emissaries to the Swiss in the camp of Ludovico, offering
them larger wages if they would abandon the service of Ludovico and
return home. They promptly closed the bargain, unfurled the banner of
mutiny, and informed the Duke of Milan that they could not, in
conscience, fight against their own brethren. The duke was in despair.
He plead even with tears that they would not abandon him. All was in
vain. They not only commenced their march home, but basely betrayed the
duke to the French. He was taken prisoner by Louis, carried to France
and for five years was kept in rigorous confinement in the strong
fortresses of the kingdom. Afterward, through the intercession of
Maximilian, he was allowed a little more freedom. He was, however, kept
in captivity until he died in the year 1510. Ludovico merits no
commiseration. He was as perfidious and unprincipled as any of his
assailants could be.
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